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Show 1876.] LETTER FROM COMMANDER W. E. COOKSON, R.N. 521 appearance. The most striking and what, I presume, would be the most important difference, is the apparently much greater length of the neck of the Abingdon tortoise. These creatures arch their neck considerably when stretching it out. All the four Abingdon tortoises we found had the jaws yellowish white, and nostrils pale pink ; in the Albemarle tortoise these parts are nearly black. The carapace of the Abingdon tortoise is more compressed at the sides, slopes gradually up from the hind quarters to the shoulder, and has the back more arched than the Albemarle ; but it is in the part protecting the head that the greatest difference lies, it being in the Abingdon tortoise contracted into a narrow highly arched hoodlike form, which gives those animals a most singular appearance. " As 1 have mentioned above, the two Abingdon tortoises died after being five or six weeks on board. The first (A) died at sea; and, owing to its size, I had no means of preserving it entire ; but I have kept the vertebrae of the neck (bone diseased) ; and all the skin of the legs, neck, hind quarters, &c. is left attached to the carapace. The other Abingdon tortoise died after our arrival at Honolulu ; there, fortunately, we met the 'Challenger'; and Professor Wyville Thomson most kindly preserved it for me in spirits. This tortoise, I presume, you have long since received, as Admiral Cochrane took it on board H.M.S. ' Repulse' in August last. " Thinking that some of the information I gathered during my cruise amongst these islands may be of interest to you, I will give a few particulars about the tortoises, &c. &c. " On our arrival at the settlement on Charles Island, we were entertained by the inhabitants with stories of tortoises of gigantic and marvellous size having been found on the islands twenty or thirty years ago, some being described as being so large as quite to rival the fossil tortoise of the Sewalik Hills ; but none of these traditions were well authenticated. One in particular, which was conveyed to Peru in an English ship, was said to have weighed a ton. As I was informed that it came into the possession of Mr. Blacker, II.M. Consul at Payta, I wrote to that gentleman asking him if he could give me any information about it. In reply he says :-' I can only say that some fifteen or sixteen years ago an English captain did bring a very large tortoise, which was transmitted by him to Callao, and there exhibited on board, a charge being made for the privilege of seeing it, and finally shipped to England as a curiosity. The weight must have been considerable ; but I cannot say it weighed a ton, which appears too much of a good thing; half that weight would have been about near the mark I should say.' Probably 6 or 7 cwt. would be nearer its actual weight; at any rate none of the present inhabitants, some of whom have been engaged in hunting tortoises for the last fifteen years, pretended themselves to have seen any weighing more than from 3 to 4 cwt.; and they considered the tortoise I send you (which weighed 240 lb. when taken) as large as any that are found now. I preserved a portion of the skull of what was said to be the largest tortoise seen for twelve or fifteen years ; it was killed about six months before our arrival at the S.W. end of Albemarle Island. 1 |
